ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — More than 5,000 students are eligible to walk in the University of Georgia's spring commencement this week.

The school says about 4,164 undergraduates and 1,091 graduate students are eligible. The undergraduate ceremony is set for 7 p.m. Friday at Sanford Stadium, and Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss will give the graduation address.

The university plans to honor Mary Frances Early with an honorary doctor of laws degree. Early was among the first black students to enroll at the university and the first to graduate. She received a master's degree in music education in 1962 and her specialist degree in music education degree in 1967.

UGA professor Stephen Hajduk, head of the department of biochemistry and molecular biology, will address the graduate ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday.

Sally Bethea of the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Organization advises people not to touch the water. She said that E. coli is a major concern.

WSB Radio reports that the river had 76 colonies of bacteria per 100 milliliters of water before the rains came Thursday night. As of early Tuesday morning, that number has shot up to 1,145 just north of Atlanta.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says any mark above 235 is unhealthy.

Experts say the bacteria level increases when rain saturates the ground, rolls off the surface and ends up in the river. They say dry weather and sunshine should cause the levels to return to normal.

Information from: WSB-AM.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Girl wounded by knife in Savannah middle school

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Authorities say a girl was taken to a hospital after an attack involving a knife inside a Savannah middle school.

The Savannah Morning News reports that the incident happened around 7:30 a.m. Monday in a hallway at DeRenne Middle School.

Savannah-Chatham public schools spokesman Kurt Hetager said the wounded student was taken to Memorial University Medical Center. He said the victim suffered injuries to her head, shoulder and right arm, but the wounds did not appear to be life-threatening.

Authorities say a 13-year-old female student was taken into custody and sent to Chatham County's juvenile detention center. Hetager said she has been charged with aggravated assault, possession of a weapon on school property and disrupting public school.

ATLANTA (AP) — Authorities say a man has died after he was gunned down on Atlanta's northwest side.

Atlanta police say the shooting happened around 1 a.m. Tuesday on Lowe Street, in a neighborhood off Hollywood Road.

Police say the man, in his 40s, had just returned home from a restaurant when several suspects forced him inside the house. Atlanta police Major Darryl Tolleson tells WSB-TV that there was a struggle, and the victim as shot inside the home.

Police say they believe robbery was the motive.

The victim, whose name has not been released, was shot at least five or six times and died at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Information from: WSB-TV.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Police seek suspect in Atlanta pharmacy robbery

ATLANTA (AP) — Atlanta police were searching early Tuesday morning for an armed man who robbed three pharmacy employees on the city's southwest side.

CBS Atlanta reports that the crime happened shortly after midnight, at a CVS Pharmacy on Martin Luther King Drive.

Police said the employees were preparing to close the store when the suspect entered through the front doors. Authorities say he gathered the workers together and robbed all three. They say he also stole money from the registers.

Police did not immediately release an amount but called it "substantial."

No injuries were reported.

Information from: WGCL-TV.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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FAMU hiring new director for Marching 100

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida A&M University is naming a new director for its famed Marching 100 band.

The band has been suspended since the hazing-related death of drum major Robert Champion in November 2011. FAMU is scheduled to the name the new director on Tuesday. The university recently interviewed two finalists for the job.

Amid the fallout from Champion's death long-time band director Julian White retired and university president James Ammons resigned.

The university has made sweeping changes to combat hazing, including putting in new requirements for future band members. FAMU announced Monday it had hired a compliance director for the university music department.

Interim President Larry Robinson has said he will decide this month whether the band will be back on the field during the 2013 football season.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Police: Armed man barricaded in Gainesville motel

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — Police in Gainesville have surrounded a motel, where they say an armed man is barricaded inside one of the rooms.

Authorities say they were able to evacuate guests from the Motel 6 off U.S. Highway 129.

Gainesville police Cpl. Joe Britte tells The Times of Gainesville that shots were fired by the suspect, but no officers were hit by the gunfire. There were no reports of injuries.

Police tell WSB-TV that a bail bondsman had called police at 9:27 a.m. Tuesday to report that the suspect had guns inside the room.

Officers arrived at the motel at 1585 Monroe Drive at 9:41 a.m. to find a man in his 30s barricaded inside, and a standoff continued early Tuesday afternoon.

COCHRAN, Ga. (AP) — Family and friends of a Georgia college student missing for nearly two weeks passed out flyers on his college campus in hopes of finding information about his whereabouts.

Campus police have said 19-year-old Jmaal Keyes was last seen April 25 on the campus of Middle Georgia State University in Cochran. His family reported him missing a few days later. Keyes, a college freshman, is from Austell.

Keyes' family has said he had no car or credit cards. Investigators told CBS Atlanta that the phone company disconnected Keyes' cell phone the day he disappeared, but they didn't say why.

Various law enforcement agencies are involved in the search for Keyes, including the campus, police the Bleckley County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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Barrow says he won't run for open US Senate seat

By Russ Bynum, Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Democratic Rep. John Barrow says he won't be running for the U.S. Senate next year.

The congressman from Augusta issued a statement Tuesday saying he will seek re-election to the House next year in eastern Georgia's 12th District, a seat Barrow has held since 2004.

Known as a supporter of gun rights and opponent of President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul, Barrow has carved a niche for himself as one of Georgia's most conservative Democrats.

Barrow's success at winning competitive races with Republicans made him a closely watched figure in the scramble to fill the open seat of retiring GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Three Republican congressmen are already running. No Democrats have declared. Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, has been mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate.

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